Office figures: Knight Frank, Dutch Office Market Report 2026: vacancy 4.6% in Utrecht Centre and 3.9% in Kanaleneiland (2025); take-up about 68,000 m². No city-wide figure is published openly (the province's property monitor sits behind a bot challenge). Map built 2026-10-09.
Every building a record says stands empty, one point per building: filter by type, size and how sure the evidence is, and open one to see who says so. “Opportunities” switches to the co-op lens: public land, conversion potential and projects already under way, every source as its own layer.
0 empty buildings · colour = type, dark ring = confirmed
Check any building in Utrecht: could it become homes, and could the EHC model work there?
Where empty offices, the right zoning and a working neighbourhood come together — and what could go wrong.
Most of the city's school swing locations stand here, and the city knows where homes stand empty for long.
Risk: Swing locations are kept for schools under renovation; empty flats are scattered units of one investor, not whole buildings.
City-owned former schools, among them the Julianaschool whose permanent new use is open.
Risk: Small buildings, in temporary use by social and creative firms.
The centre holds the most homes that have stood empty for over ten years, and shop vacancy on the Steenweg.
Risk: Mostly second homes and upper floors in private hands; the city's vacancy ordinance is the lever, not a sale.
The former Pieter Baan Centrum and the city's Koningsweg 2 wait for redevelopment.
Risk: The Pieter Baan Centrum is already sold to a developer; Koningsweg 2 is let temporarily.
Where the city hands plots to housing co-operatives.
Risk: New build on city land rather than conversion.
Who controls the space, and what a housing cooperative can actually do with them.
The city is tendering a new vacancy manager for its social property (publication by 9 October 2026, contract from April 2027), weighting neighbourhood and social use above price. Buildings expected to stand empty for 6–24 months go at reduced rent to social initiatives; ask to be on the list, and for longer vacancies ask for direct letting.
The council asked the city to sell €5.2 million of property and, under motion 137, to weigh social value above price ('Community Right to Bid'). The city issues buildings on long lease; the next selection is due in early 2027 — follow the letters and bid with a social plan.
Register in the city's 'kaartenbak' on CrowdBuilding. The Uitvoeringsprogramma Wooncoöperaties 2024–2028 promises at least two locations a year — from city land, third parties' land or existing buildings — with a subsidy for groups that take part in tenders.
After its feasibility study the city will invite organisations to submit plans for a permanent use, social housing among them. Prepare a co-operative plan with long-term commitments.
Owners must report homes empty for six months; the city then holds a vacancy talk and can issue a vacancy order. It watches owners with more than two properties closely — ask it to put co-operatives forward as users when it talks to owners of long-empty blocks.
Decisions, auctions and closures that change what becomes available, and when.
About 14 city buildings are on average in vacancy management for 6–24 months; the new contract weights social use above price, publication by 9 October 2026.
Vacancy 4.6% in the centre and 3.9% in Kanaleneiland; older stock keeps leaving the office market for housing.
The lease for Royaards van den Hamkade 18 is signed, two more buildings went out from April 2026 and two by mid-2027; a further selection is due in early 2027.
In 2025 the city issued 45 notices of intended enforcement and 19 enforcement decisions, mostly fines for empty homes not reported.
Wooncoöperatie Hommeldorp selected for 20–40 homes on the Chisinaustraat; from now on two plots a year.
Private homes empty for more than a year fell from 1,976 (2023) to 1,565 (2025); about 220 have been empty for over ten years.
23 sources connected, 1 waiting for access. We only use data we may lawfully reuse; where a publisher blocks automated access we do not work around it — a person downloads it, or we ask for permission.
| Source | Access | Records | Status | Licence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenStreetMap disused/abandoned tags and brownfields OpenStreetMap contributors | Open API | 23 | Live 2026-10-09 | ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors) |
| Rail, S-Bahn and U-Bahn stations (OpenStreetMap) OpenStreetMap contributors | Open API | scoring | Live 2026-10-09 | ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors) |
| Building heights: GlobalBuildingAtlas (TU Munich) Zhu, X. X., Chen, S., Zhang, F., Shi, Y., Wang, Y. (2025), Technical University of Munich GlobalBuildingAtlas: an open global and complete dataset of building polygons, heights and LoD1 3D models. Earth System Science Data 17(12), 6647–6668, doi:10.5194/essd-17-6647-2025. Read from the Parquet copy on Source Cooperative. Satellite-derived heights (typically 1.5–3 m error in Europe), turned into storeys with storey heights fitted on Berlin; used only where no register or official 3D model sizes the building. | Open download | 16 buildings sized | Live 2026-10-09 | CC BY-NC 4.0 (heights); footprints from OpenStreetMap and Microsoft: ODbL |
| Heights and floor areas: 3DBAG and the BAG register 3DBAG (TU Delft 3D geoinformation, 3DGI); Kadaster (BAG via PDOK) © 3DBAG by tudelft3d and 3DGI. The usable floor area of the units in each building (BAG verblijfsobjecten) where it has units, else storeys from the 70th-percentile roof height. | Open API | 351 buildings sized | Live 2026-10-09 | CC BY 4.0 (3DBAG); CC0 (BAG) |
| Road noise (EU Environmental Noise Directive, Lden) European Environment Agency | Open API | scoring | Live 2026-10-09 | EEA standard re-use policy (attribution) |
| Leerstandsmelder.de — public reports of empty buildings Leerstandsmelder (Gängeviertel e.V., Hamburg) Shown while we ask Leerstandsmelder for permission. Reports since 2016 only, with the address, the month reported and a link to each entry; not checked by EHC. Each point says when a report has since been marked demolished, lived in, in interim use or rebuilt on Leerstandsmelder, and the owner type the reporter gave (private owners are never named). | Asking for permission | 0 | Pending 2026-10-09 | Credited to Leerstandsmelder.de; asking for permission |
| Open-ended property funds: buildings they report partly empty Open-ended real-estate funds (each point names its fund and report) German and Austrian open-ended public property funds must list every property with its vacancy (or letting) rate in their annual and half-year reports. scripts/reuse/import-fund-reports.ts reads those lists; properties at 10 % vacancy or more are shown, those at 25 % or more count as evidence. | Open download | 0 | Live 2026-10-09 | Published fund report (KAGB / KARBV property list), cited per point |
| Co-working spaces, department stores, banks, hotels and cinemas listed as permanently closed Overture Maps Foundation (closure data: BrightQuery company records) Places with operating_status "permanently_closed" in the monthly Overture release, read by scripts/reuse/import-overture-closures.ts and matched to the building they sit in. A closed business is usually one unit; names are shown only for companies, never for sole traders. | Open download | 0 | Live 2026-10-09 | CDLA Permissive 2.0 (Overture Maps Foundation) |
| Land without current use and stalled construction, mapped from satellite imagery (Copernicus Urban Atlas 2006–2018) European Environment Agency — Copernicus Land Monitoring Service Urban Atlas class 13400 (brownfields, demolition sites and gaps in the built-up area, 0.25 ha and up) compared across the 2006, 2012 and 2018 editions, so each plot says how long it has stood unused; plus construction sites (13300) already under way in 2012, and 2012 construction sites left unused by 2018. Read from the EEA's open ArcGIS services, the same way in every radar city. The 2021 edition (Copernicus Data Space) drops plots built on since 2018 where scripts/reuse/import-urban-atlas-2021.ts has been run. Points are context, never evidence of vacancy. | Open API | 52 | Live 2026-10-09 | Copernicus open data (© European Union, Copernicus Land Monitoring Service 2006–2021, EEA) |
| Church buildings no longer used for worship (Reliwiki) Reliwiki — Dutch database of religious buildings (volunteers), found through Wikidata Every religious building in the city that Wikidata links to a Reliwiki page (P8897); scripts/reuse/import-reliwiki.ts reads the page (live, or its newest Wayback Machine snapshot when reliwiki.nl is down, as on 7 Oct 2026). Category "Buiten Gebruik" with no current use = empty; with another use = already converted (a precedent). Reliwiki states no licence: shown with credit and a link to each page (decision 6 Oct 2026), off on request. | EHC research | 0 | Live 2026-10-09 | No licence stated — credited and linked per building (Wikidata links: CC0) |
| Stalled construction and buildings held by insolvent developers EHC research (dated press and court sources per point) Signa, Adler/Consus and other developer insolvencies since 2022 and stalled sites, each with its latest dated status (src/scripts/data/reuse/stalled-projects.json; news leads from scripts/reuse/mine-news.ts are reviewed before they join). | EHC research | 0 | Live 2026-10-09 | Cited publisher per point |
| Church buildings the dioceses and regional churches plan to give up Catholic dioceses and Protestant regional churches (their building plans), via EHC research Buildings a church body’s published building plan or recent reporting names as to be given up, without church funding, for sale or lease, or profaned (src/scripts/data/reuse/church-plans.json and brussels-churches.json). | EHC research | 0 | Live 2026-10-09 | Cited publisher per point |
| Named buildings and sites from EHC research (each with its own source) European Housing Coop research | EHC research | 5 | Live 2026-10-09 | Facts cited to their publishers |
| Listed buildings: Rijksmonumenten Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (via PDOK) National monuments as outlines (INSPIRE protected sites). Municipal monuments are not in this register. | Open API | scoring | Live 2026-10-09 | CC BY 4.0 |
| Year built: BAG building register Kadaster (Basisregistratie Adressen en Gebouwen, via PDOK) The original construction year (bouwjaar) of the BAG building a record sits in. | Open API | scoring | Live 2026-10-09 | CC0 1.0 |
| Year built and listing: OpenStreetMap building tags OpenStreetMap contributors start_date / construction_date and heritage / listed_status of the OpenStreetMap outline a record is matched to, where no register answers. Read with the outline match, not a separate query. | Open API | scoring | Live 2026-10-09 | ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors) |
| Buildings registered as out of use (BAG) Kadaster — Basisregistratie Adressen en Gebouwen (via PDOK) | Open API | 8 | Live 2026-10-09 | CC0 1.0 |
| Religious buildings the city records as empty, for sale or awaiting redevelopment Gemeente Utrecht — Religieus erfgoed (ArcGIS Online) | Open API | 5 | Live 2026-10-09 | CC0 1.0 (data.overheid.nl record 'Religieus Erfgoed 20220401 Join 20251229') |
| Buildings owned by the City of Utrecht (300 m² or more) Gemeente Utrecht — gemeentelijk eigendom, gebouwen (UtrechtOpen GeoServer) | Open API | 262 | Live 2026-10-09 | No licence stated on the layer (most UtrechtOpen layers are CC0 in the national catalogue) — shown with credit to the City of Utrecht |
| City land held for spatial development (2,500 m² or more) Gemeente Utrecht — gemeentelijk eigendom, vlakken (UtrechtOpen GeoServer) | Open API | 115 | Live 2026-10-09 | No licence stated on the layer (most UtrechtOpen layers are CC0 in the national catalogue) — shown with credit to the City of Utrecht |
| School buildings the city keeps as 'strategic swing locations' Gemeente Utrecht — school buildings layer for the education housing plan (ArcGIS Online) | Open API | 17 | Live 2026-10-09 | No licence stated (the city's ArcGIS Online organisation; layer marked 'TESTLAAG') — shown with credit |
| Office-only buildings with a unit of 1,000 m² or more (BAG) Kadaster — Basisregistratie Adressen en Gebouwen (via PDOK) | Open API | 90 | Live 2026-10-09 | CC0 1.0 |
| Buildings with a demolition permit granted (BAG) Kadaster — Basisregistratie Adressen en Gebouwen (via PDOK) | Open API | 51 | Live 2026-10-09 | CC0 1.0 |
| Brownfield land (OpenStreetMap) OpenStreetMap contributors | Open API | 19 | Live 2026-10-09 | ODbL 1.0 |
Open data cannot see everything. Tell us about a building in Utrecht that stands empty or barely used; once we have checked it, it joins the map under “Reported by visitors (checked)”.
The other radars in the same country and the nearest beyond. All 134 cities in the atlas
The figure on each card: empty buildings on record.